Palearctic

The world’s largest desert has a reputation for being vast, barren and formidable. But a new book reveals that much of what we know about the Sahara is a mirage. Reviewer Bruce Barcott takes a look at “Sahara: A Natural History.”

For today’s geo quiz we were looking for China’s largest desert. It’s located in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of China. The answer is the Taklamakan desert where an endurance race is about to begin.

Today’s answer is Mauritania, the next stop on a fantastical flight led by pilot Neil Laughton. Laughton is travelling in a flying car from London, England, to Timbuktu in Mali. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Laughton about his “Chitty-Chitty, Bang-Bang”-style adventure.

American archaeologists working in the Sahara Desert say they’ve discovered extensive burial grounds dating back thousands of years, at a time when the Sahara was a green and fertile land. The World’s David Leveille reports.

European scientists want to build a giant solar farm in the Sahara desert, and they think that it might be a green way to solve most of Europe’s energy needs, as Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Alok Jha